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ABSTRACT
Scripts in the cinema provide a cultural definition of suicide, including where suicide takes place. Using opportunity theory, this study examines the concept of “lethal locations” to address questions regarding movies as a risk factor for suicide: (1) Do cinematic scripts overrepresent lethal locations? (2) Given sociological changes, have cinematic scripts for lethal locations intensified over a century of film? and (3) Are scripts for lethal locations for suicide gendered, possibly accounting for large gender differences in suicide rates? Data are taken from the National Violent Death Reporting System and from cinematic suicides. Results show that cinematic scripts overrepresent suicides away from home. Cinematic scripts supported a gendered relationship, whereas females are more apt than males to suicide at home, a pattern consistent with lower female suicide rates. This is the first national study of American suicide location in the media and society.
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Notes on contributors
Steven Stack
Steven Stack is Director of the Center for Suicide Research in Troy, Michigan, and a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Wayne State University. He is the author of numerous articles and the author of four books. He received the Louis Dublin Award for lifetime research contributions from the American Association of Suicidology.
Barbara Bowman
Barbara Bowman is a research associate at the Center for Suicide Research, in Troy, Michigan. Her publications focus on the presentation of suicide in film, art, and literature. She is coauthor (with Steven Stack) of Suicide Movies, Social Patterns, 1900–2009.